The Circle Fulfilled
by Insaneiac The Maniac
Summary: Five hundred years after Symphonia, Lloyd's path has taken a dark turn. Future AU, very dark. A collaborative effort with Sylvia Viridian.


**Insaneiac: This came on during a discussion with Sylvia Viridian late Sunday night and it stuck with me. I began to wonder if Lloyd's way would truly work in the end, and more than that, if he would survive in trying to make this work. Then I got the idea of something a little crueler. Originally this was going to be a big as hell one-shot, but it changed again. It's now a collaboration with said inspirational source and wonderful friend, Sylvia Viridian. Nine chapters, alternating one after the other and in different POVs, this takes place five hundred years post game. It's a very dark piece here, and all elements to it are designed to fit that theme. Consider this the future that might come from Tales of Symphonia. **

_Disclaimer: I do not own Tales of Symphonia. Perhaps I own this outlook in a way, but the characters and places are not mine at all. Okay most of the places aren't mine._

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**Tales of Symphonia: The Circle Fulfilled**

**Chapter 1: Aurion**

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"_Farewell, my shadow, you who stand at the end of the path I chose not to follow. I wanted my own world, so I don't regret my choice. I would make the same choice all over again. I will continue to choose this path!"_

Those were words that belonged to Mithos Yggdrasill. He was a half-elf that lived five hundred years ago and changed the world. He changed them once for the good, and then many times for the not good. He was a radical idealist that wanted to force tolerance on people. He wanted to fulfill his dying sister's last wish of a world without discrimination, of absolute tolerance. So he decided to strive towards that goal despite the filth that took his sister from him in the first place.

Humans.

I was the "chosen" one that eventually stopped Mithos, ending his four thousand year long plan to revive his sister and create a world free of racism. That sounds so noble when one decides not to include the numerous atrocities his plan involved, such as turning living beings into lifeless husks and manipulating a pair of worlds to sacrifice people simply to find a perfect host for his dearly departed sister. He caused so much pain and suffering that his own sister revoked him when he finally succeeding, finding her dear brother's actions to be deplorable and malevolent.

Oh, you are probably surprised I can even pronounce that word, are you not? You probably heard a few words that I should have stumbled on like a fool. How precious, you scum still think I am an unintelligent little idealist. An innocent soul that is so filled with the idea of peace that I am oblivious to almost everything else. How very, very human of you. I digress though, since I have a reason for my own mental narration to an audience that does not exist, and to my filthy human side that should have faded long ago for the good of all things, but stays for the people he loves.

Mithos left those words as his final testament to this world, as his final goodbye to the world that betrayed him and was later betrayed by him. Or at least I thought that was the case. But I was wrong, like I usually was at the time. Those words were spoken not for the world to remember him by, or for himself to defend his path. Those words, those simple words that held such a lasting meaning and sounded like nothing more than a self proposed eulogy, well they were not. They didn't speak of the past but of the future. They spoke of events that will one day pass. They were meant for me as a warning, as a prediction…as one last statement of life. Mithos' final words were for me and me alone.

"Farewell, my shadow…you who stand at the end of the path I chose not to follow. I wanted my own world, so I don't regret my choice. I would make the same choice all over again. I will continue to choose this path…" I speak unknowingly in a dull voice, and a noticeably more aged one. As it was once compared by Zelos, I sound like a lighter toned Kratos. I find that fitting. I pause as I realized I had said those words before a slow chuckle leaves my lips. I can feel Raine's eyes turn towards me, resonating with the worry she has allowed to show. I know why she does this. My laughter is demented and twisted, often accompanied with choked sobs and moans. I know how she hates the sound of that laughter, that empty and suffer laced laughter, yet she never leaves my side incase it should come. The only time I laugh anymore is when Zelos talks to me and helps me remember the past. Remember…

I both hate and love my past. I hate it for defending people that proved everything Mithos had said right. I love it for my friends that never turned their backs to me, even if I and when I was an idiot. I hate it for how I was always preaching about peace and a world of pacifism when I could not see the truth about…_feh_…humanity. I love it for the time I had to spend with people that I love and cherish, even if they no longer feel that way about me. I hate my past for that day, five hundred years ago…where I learned just what humanity truly was. I love my past because…because she was in it.

I did not realize it, but the tears had managed to come silently this time, with no laughter before hand. That rarely happens to me anymore, but I guess it still does time from distant time. I wipe a sleeve across my eyes in an attempt to whisk away the tears, brushing past my long brown hair as the fabric trailed across my features. I am very different now; one wouldn't even be able to tell who I once was. I went and aged myself considerably, taking after my father in a way. This included my height, which put me at the same level of stature as Yggdrasill had been. I wore a set of light plate armor of immaculate white with a gold trim and a silver emblem of a gleaming stone on the chest piece of the armor, over top an ornate red shirt with silver trim with form fitting trousers in a similar fashion of colors. Along my arms are silver sleeves that extend past my hands and hid their gloveless skin from the world I immersed myself in. Silver combat greaves, much like the kind my dear departed friend Regal would wear, adorned my feet and complete my new attire I look nothing like the weak and blind child that let himself be fooled by this disgusting thing called humanity.

I flinch subconsciously as a hand, a soft and motherly hand, brushes the strands of hair out of my face and then make way for a pair of eyes that stare into my own. They were a pair of blue eyes that never ceased to help me through those periods of laughter. They belonged to Raine Sage, one of my two Archangels, one of my two Rays of Hope that never abandoned me to the dark horrors that stalk me. She gently wipes away a lingering tear with a graceful finger before caressing my face warmly. She does not need to say anything to me, I can see it already.

"Thank you, Raine." I speak quietly as I rise myself up from my seat, and wrap my arms around her and pulling her into a needing hug. I feel her arms wrap around my body to hold me and comfort me as I let my mind clear and the tears seep out.

Why…why did they kill Her? Why did I ever believe in humanity? WHY!

Why does it still hurt so much after five hundred years of being without Her?

"You've been thinking about the past again, haven't you Lloyd?" She speaks in a motherly fashion to me as she rubs the back of my head. I nod in the embrace, and she simply holds me closer as my tears soak into her robes. "I know it hurts, Lloyd." She is one of the only two people on the world I allow to call me that weak name and live.

That weakling's pathetic name…I **HATE** that name…It hurts me and it burns me and I feel like tearing my skin off just to distance my further and further from it. But I can't get rid of Lloyd, of that name that signified a human soul.

Because she chose to stay with this broken and dark person that would have simply faded away without her. I'd never take away her Lloyd from her. I'm not like humanity. I need Raine; I need her more than anything else. And I think she knew this after that day five hundred years ago, even when it meant that she would be going against the last of her family. I thought she would hate me for splitting her and Genis apart, but not once have her eyes ever held discontent or contempt for me. That is why I'll never take away her Lloyd. Because she needs Lloyd as much as I need Raine. Even though that stern and powerful woman is still there and prevalent most of the time, I've seen a side to her that I doubt her very brother has seen. As I realize this again, I hug her even tighter and breathe against the fabric of her robes.

"Will it stop hurting?" I meant when we come to the completion of our plan, and she knew it. The plan of Shriune, the group I created to take this shallow and ludicrous world to an age of Love. Some call us the new Desians, while the Renegade filth calls us a bastardized Cruxis. I find the comparisons asinine and narrow sighted. Desians were disgusting and brutal and horrible, just like humanity is. I find the irony quite humorous now that I look back. Cruxis was a foolish little child's desperate act for revenge disguised in his sister's will. Shriune is going to do the noble, even when these inferior beings don't deserve any such kindness. I'm going to give them a world that She would have wanted for them.

A world of love.

To do that…I've used my own type of gemstone to gather an energy source that defies the physical, ethereal and even spiritual realms of existence, crafting one of its own. The precious power of the living Soul, acquired willingly through the use of my Aniopals. These precious stones of truth merge with its host and saps away their soul through their emotions and their freewill.

Don't you dare call them exspheres…They are innocent and pure things, just like She is. These stones cause no pain or suffering to the host as it takes away their soul, and after the soul is absorbed into the opal, it is removed and the host then lives to help accomplish the goal of Shriune, to create a world of love. It doesn't turn them into lifeless beings, it gives them a purpose to live for and the knowledge that they have helped to bring about Her world.

As for where Shriune is, one could walk right over it and never find it. Unlike Mithos, I hid my temple in plain sight. It lies within the Martel Temple, home to Verius. The beauty of this is that to truly find this temple, one must be able to see the door. A door made invisible through the power of the Eternal Sword that leads to a realm where I am in complete control. And in that realm is Shriune's temple, dedicated to brining about a world of Love.

I spare a single moment to look around this desolate room, lit by floating orbs of white. The color white brings me a joy I often hate, but it reminds me of nicer things. Nice things that I yearn for yet are kept out of my grasp by the filth of humanity. They are just dim enough to hide the corners and the floor of the large room, but bright enough to allow visibility and illuminate the air. A very simple chair rests in the center of the room, my place for thought and planning and where I would reminisce. One would call this the "throne room" to my temple, which is immensely stupid. This is not my castle, it is a temple. There is no throne in a temple. The entire building is a very large one, the size of a small island to be exact, in a tiny world where the only piece of land is surrounded by a sea of white water underneath a sky of red. The exterior of the temple itself is simple looking on the outside and incredibly small compared to the inside of it. Another treat of the Eternal Sword is the ability to alter reality to suit my needs. To be specific, the entrance to Shriune is, fittingly enough, inside a traditional Mizuhoan-style shrine within the center of the island.

However, this all takes a great amount of mana, something that the world has in abundance now that I gave the tree life. However, I will never harm the mana tree by draining it of its mana. Despite that vow, I've procured a steady supply of mana that gives me the ability to maintain this tiny world within the real world, and open the doorways into any number of different places. And the source for this mana that gives my world the strength it needs to survive and produce Aniopals?

I grin with a mixture of morbidity and loneliness laced in my lips as I pull away from Raine and hold out my right hand, slowly clasping it around the air and instantly forming the Eternal Sword with it. Yes, Origin himself. His pact is with me and Sheena, and so I have a degree of ownership over him. As it should be, the tool is used as the master decides it should be used. It may be killing him slowly, but unlike the Yggdrasill, the great tree, or Mana herself, Origin is not necessary for the world to survive. He can die for all I care; he'll die in serving to create the world She would want. Besides, when a spirit fades, another rises to become that spirit. As long as Sheena remains alive, I still have control over Origin. With every passing day, more of his life force is used to make my temple stronger. To empower Shriune and help me bring this world the ultimate gift.

…Stop.

Stop right now.

I am not a "bad guy". All of you will simply call me evil, _all of you!_ But I am not evil in the slightest sense.

Do not **DARE** to call me evil, human!

I have seen evil. _I have known evil!_ Evil is the filth that takes advantage of this ludicrous world and simply cause it pain and suffering! Evil is the weak half-elves and sanctimonious elves that let humanity dominate it. Evil is the true nature of humanity, a disease that destroys peace and corrupts love. If anything, I'm still the Hero that I was when I defeated Mithos. I am going to give this world of undeserving evil a grand purification, harkening in a cure for humanity, a cure for weakness.

The cure for evil, Her endless love.

How can that be evil? How can a being that benevolent be called evil? Mithos used his power to hurt, but not I! Humanity will pay for its evil and, in turn, I will cleanse it of the taint it carries. I will purge the taint with Shriune, with the Aniopals, with true love in my heart and with the power in my hands, with the Eternal Sword…with Raine and with Zelos…and with Her. I am not…

…**Evil…**That…would make me a human.

I pull the blade to my eyes to look at it gently, appraisingly. Raine had taken a few steps back when she saw me take the Eternal Sword, but I could feel her eyes resting on me. Raine had since changed as well, though not in appearance as much as in attire. She still looked like the beautiful professor five hundred years prior to this, though with her hair slightly longer. At her permission, I made her into one of my Archangels and gave her the same immortality that Zelos and I share. Instead of her traditional orange robes that she wore, she now had a more divine garb. She wore full robes with long sleeves that started near from the shoulders down in a pure white and progressively shifting into a sky blue as it continued down her frame. The sleeves end just at the wrists and never got in the way of her hands. Around her neck she wore a necklace that had a stone in the center. Her lower half was adorned with a pair of form fitting pants that matched the shade of robes perfectly, and a pair of white shoes to complete the image. Her wings were larger than most normal ones that are among the angels of Shriune, though not as large as mine. They were a brilliant shade of emerald green that filled the air around her in a gentle tone, matching the stone on her necklace. This in itself was misleading, as Raine Sage was an accomplished fighter now and a powerful mage both in healing arts and magics of light and shadow elements.

She is a beautiful woman, even more than she was when she was simply Raine the Professor. But by no means is she soft. She would still be there to let me know when I'm being stupid and narrow-sighted and to remind me what my goals are. She hates humanity just like I do, but the both of us loved Her as well. There is nothing we want more than to make Her dream come true. That stone around her neck is what gives her the properties of an angel and what allows help in bringing her world to existence, as I refuse to use any stone on her. Cruxis Crystal or otherwise, I never want to risk losing Raine in any way shape or form.

Zelos had gone out to make a note of the movements of the Yuan and Genis' Renegades and Kratos' Crusaders, the angelic faction of the Renegades. He has also gone to try and find Sheena and bring her to me, again. I hope that she comes willingly, I truly do. I miss Zelos, like I usually do when he's gone. He makes me laugh still, real laughs. The kind that we shared when we traveled the world together, even as it was falling apart.

I love to laugh that laugh. I hate to know that I love that laugh…it's a human laugh. A _disgusting _laugh.

But Zelos…he wants to see me laugh sometimes. And I like to see Zelos laugh. I will not take away that laughter from him…not Zelos. I will still be Lloyd for Zelos and for Raine…for that laughter and that warmth. He stayed with me too and I love them, him and Raine. My friends who will never abandon me, who have been here for me while I suffer and will be there when we give this world love.

I lower the sword before glancing towards Raine and smiling. I always smile around Raine and Zelos, because it is the only time I'm ever happy. Even still, my smiles are twisted and demented much like my laughter, showing signs of my emotional instability. They seem to reflect the intention in my eyes. I remember smiling at Genis once and watching him back away from me, stumbling as he did. I remember smiling at him as I wiped the blood off my face and whisked it to the side of the burning inferno to my back. That has become my smile now.

And yet Raine could feel the true smile behind it, and allowed one of he own part smiles, complete with motherly warmth, to shine unto me. "Soon, I'll have collected enough souls. All I will need to do then is have Sheena force a pact with Verius, and then have Verius' power magnified by the souls. That way, the world will be filled with the same love she had. It'll be a better place." I say, half reminding myself of my plan. Releasing my grip on the sword, it fades back into my unique mana flow and takes the purple glow away from me.

"Don't let yourself grow impatient or excited, Lloyd." Raine spoke with a sterner tone. No matter the glare I could feed her, Raine would not flinch. She was so very powerful in spirit that I doubt she has ever back down from anyone. "We may be getting close, but that is no reason to speed up. And by the same accord, it's also no mean to slow down."

"Of course, Raine." I replied respectfully as I make eye contact with her. "I need to keep this pace for as long as it takes. Yet it feels close all the same. Like I could reach out and grab it."

"If it is that close, let it come to you. People that reach out have their hands snatched in the middle." She was right of course. She was always right.

"I wish Sheena would join us. She has not sided with the Renegades, so she can't be blind. She has to be able to see that this is the right thing to do, right?" I wanted desperately to have Sheena by my side. She was still a friend to me, even if she was hiding from Shriune. I wonder if she though the same of me. No…I know what she thinks of me. A monster possessed by depression that his driven him to madness. Yet still, Sheena is a friend to me. I love my friends.

"Remember Lloyd, she is Sheena. We need her regardless to make this world lovely. That may mean you need to force her to do this rather than ask her." I had started doing that, but it had failed on me as well. At least the first time did, though that was because she had managed to escape. "It may mean doing the horrible a second time. It may mean hurting Sheena badly for a second time."

"If anyone can convince her, it's Zelos." I say in defiance, but I can feel her gaze grow hard with realism. Realism has replaced that foolish idealism I once cherished, and often all it needed was a slight reminder to kick in. "If I have to, I will. Fulfilling Her dream is more important than one friend." Content that she heard what she needed to, Raine softened her gaze and walked back towards me, rubbing the side of my face warmly.

"I know you hate it Lloyd. To have to do that to her even once must have hurt you so badly. If you would, I will do it for you the second time, to spare you that pain." Raine spoke. I nodded once in response before raising a hand and using it to press her's to my face. "I know hurting your friends is so painful for you. I can see it in your eyes. There are many things you alone have to do, but that is not one of them."

I nod again before turning and taking a step away. "Thank you Raine." I mutter weakly before taking a few steps towards the door out of the room. "I'm going to go visit Her." I state once. I can hear Raine reply with a yes. I offer to take her with me so many times, but when I put it like that it is known that I want to be alone with Her. With everything out of the way, I press my hands into the door and close my eyes for a moment before melting into the metal structure and disappearing. And as my body travels to Her place of rest, I once again remember those words Mithos had said, his words and prophecy for me.

"_Farewell, my shadow, you who stand at the end of the path I chose not to follow. I wanted my own world, so I don't regret my choice. I would make the same choice all over again. I will continue to choose this path!"_

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A/N: The future is dark. Shriune, Aurion's organization, and the Aniopals are self created. Shriune comes from the word Shin, which means true in Japanese, and is an altered version of the world 'Shrine'. In a way, it is like saying "Shrine of the True." Aniopals comes from two words, Animus which is Latin for Soul and the opal gemstone. Effectively, soul opals. Well, the next chapter goes to Sylvia Viridian and point of view number two. It's all yours Sylvia! 


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